As the Crew’s new coach and sporting director, Gregg Berhalter is tasked with both building the
roster and leading it on the field. Although he was formally named to the position only four days
ago, Berhalter has been preparing for the team’s offseason for several weeks now.

During a two-day interview in Columbus in mid-September, Berhalter laid out his plans for the
team should he land the job. That presentation helped him win the job and, said investor-operator
Anthony Precourt, those discussions about the team’s direction have been going on for weeks.

“I’ve been in conversations with Gregg Berhalter for over five, six weeks — with all of our
candidates,” Precourt said on Wednesday. “He’s had time to evaluate. He’s been studying our games
and doing all sorts of data-driven analysis on our roster, qualitative assessments, talking with
other coaches, just getting a feel, talking with (team president) Mark McCullers about our
roster."

It’s a good sign for Berhalter, because his chance to have a face-to-face meeting with his new
players has already passed. The Crew missed the playoffs but continued to practice until Wednesday,
when players were released for the offseason with many headed to their out-of-state homes.

Berhalter was in Barcelona, Spain, for a Wednesday teleconference before flying back to Sweden
to collect his family and belongings and head for Columbus to start looking for a home. He was
expected to arrive in town this weekend and will be publicly introduced at a Tuesday news
conference.

One of Berhalter’s first tasks, he said, will be reaching out to every player, via phone or
email. The Crew must make decisions on players with option years by

Nov. 26, and Precourt said the club will be ready.

“I see good pieces,” Berhalter said. “I think that the team can be relatively successful in a
short period of time, because the pieces are there. There’s technical players, there’s players with
speed, there’s players with strength. It’s a good mix. Of course we’re going to look to improve the
roster, but I’m pretty pleased with what I see already.”

Part of Berhalter’s winning presentation was his enthusiasm for what he has called “data-driven”
roster analysis.

“I believe it’s an underdeveloped area in soccer right now,” he said. “We use data from a
physical standpoint, from the performance standpoint, across all boards just to get a better
picture of what’s happening.”

Although further moves obviously are forthcoming, Precourt said the decision to cut ties with
Matias Sanchez and Aaron Horton was made by former interim coach and technical director Brian Bliss
— and that it would not have been vetoed by any of the finalists for the position.

Aside from the roster, Berhalter is going to be hiring assistant coaches as well as a director
of soccer operations, the latter to help him navigate Major League Soccer’s roster rules. His
brother, Jay, president of the soccer agency Kentaro North America, could be a candidate for the
role.

“I’m really excited about our future,” Precourt said. “This is a big decision, because from this
decision come others. Gregg’s going to help us in building out our staff and strengthening our
scouting. We’re going to think about our USL Pro affiliation. There’s a lot of good things to come,
and this was the key first decision to make.”

ajardy@dispatch.com

@AdamJardy

Coaching history

Gregg Berhalter was named the sixth full-time coach in Crew history. A look at past coaches:

1996: Timo Liekoski

Regular season: 6-16-0 / Playoffs 0-0-0

1996-2001: Tom Fitzgerald

Regular season: 70-67-7 / Playoffs: 9-8-0

2001-2005: Greg Andrulis

Regular season: 49-43-32 / Playoffs: 2-3-3

2006-2008: Sigi Schmid

Regular season: 34-33-24 / Playoffs: 3-0-1

2009-2013: Robert Warzycha

Regular season: 63-53-38 / Playoffs: 1-5-0

2013: Brian Bliss (interim)

Regular season: 4-4-0 / Playoffs 0-0-0

Note: Fitzgerald went 9-1-0 after replacing Liekoski in 1996; Andrulis went 12-4-4
after replacing Fitzgerald in 2001; Warzycha went 7-6-3 after replacing Andrulis in 2005, before
behind hired as full-time coach in 2009.